Friday Fodder: Media: Don't take it out on Favre

Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . . Why are most of the media so angry with Brett Favre? Is it because many of them look like fools now because a month ago they said Favre would never play again? Here's the deal. Favre is really not worth all of the fuss. He is just a big kid who simply wants to play football until they drag him off the field. Why does that make him evil? What else is he going to do with his life? Play video games? Organize a fantasy football league? Write a newspaper column? Favre is only going to be 40 years old in a few months. He probably has 40 or so years left on this planet. So what's the big deal if he wants to spend one more playing football?

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Why didn't anyone get upset at Michael Jordan for retiring and unretiring? Would anyone be mad at Steve Young if he decided to come back this week? Boxers retire and unretire all the time and hardly anyone notices. Barry Bonds is retired and he doesn't even know it. Favre, a guy who has yet to even miss a game since 1992, does it and he's looked upon as selfish, a liar and arrogant, and people suddenly become concerned about the feelings of Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson. We all need to get a life.

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Lost in all the Favre hoopla this week was the fact that the future Hall of Fame quarterback will reportedly get paid $10-12 million this year. The same day, Stephen Strasburg, a college baseball pitcher, signed a contract that will pay him $15 million. One guy is a sure Hall of Famer who hasn't missed a game in almost 20 years and has set nearly every imaginable record in his sport for his position. But he still can't get as much money as a 20-something pitcher who has done nothing more than strike out Mountain West Conference hitters. What is the moral of the story here? Get Scott Boras as your agent.

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Is Strasburg going to earn his $15 million? Are you kidding? Of course not. Of the 14 pitchers who were drafted No. 1 overall since the draft began in 1965, none of them had anything close to a Hall of Fame career. The best of the lot were guys who were solid but not spectacular for a few years, like Floyd Bannister, Mike Moore, Tim Belcher. The jury is still out on David Price and Luke Hochevar, but the list of pitchers who were busts as the No. 1 overall pick is littered with names like Brien Taylor, Ben McDonald, David Clyde, Bryan Bullington, Paul Wilson and Matt Anderson. What is the moral of the story here? Teach your kid to throw a fastball 100 miles an hour. He can retire at the age of 21.

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OK, we admit that Brett Favre being named the Minnesota Vikings starter for their preseason game tonight against Kansas City is a little strange. Favre, after all, has less than a week of practice in a Vikings uniform under his belt. But what about Syracuse naming Greg Paulus their starter for their season opener Sept. 5? Paulus, who was last seen playing point guard for Duke, hasn't even played football for four years - when he was in high school. And he gets named Syracuse's starter after one week of practice? Last year's starter, Cameron Dantley, now a senior, is still on the roster. They couldn't let him start the opener? Didn't Dantley earn that opportunity?

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It is oh-so-easy to pick on the Oakland Raiders. So when the head coach allegedly punches out one of his assistants, it's just another example of why Camp Chaos has become the laughingstock of the NFL. Right? Wrong. Tom Cable popping one of his assistants in a meeting is the best bit of news to come out of Oakland since the franchise left Los Angeles. The more we learn about Cable, the more we like. Oh, and one other thing: The NFL needs to get its nose out of Oakland and stop snooping around. Whether Cable did or did not break the face of one of his assistants shouldn't concern anybody but Cable and Al Davis.

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The best football game of the season at Mackay Stadium will likely take place this Saturday night between the Nevada high school Class 5A state champion McQueen Lancers and the Arizona Class 5A, Division II state champion Peoria Centennial Coyotes.

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It sure didn't take Luke Babbitt long to become one of the best college basketball players in the nation, did it? Just 14 months ago, Babbitt was among the Galena High graduates. And now he is among the top 50 players in the country, according to the good folks connected with the prestigious Wooden Award. We've been singing the praises of Babbitt since the first month of his freshman year at Galena. And all we've heard is how he can't jump, doesn't play defense and can't use his right hand. Well, the kid who can't play defense, jump or use his right hand is now the best player on his team, in his conference and one of the best in the country.

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Ramon Sessions, for some reason, is still without a team. The former Nevada Wolf Pack point guard has been rumored to be headed to the New York Knicks all summer, but the Knicks seemingly don't want to spend a penny for fear of jeopardizing their chances of signing LeBron James next summer. Sessions, though, needs to just sign for whatever the Knicks will give him. It's obvious his old team, the Milwaukee Bucks, are clueless and his potential new team, the Knicks, are idiots. Sign with the Knicks, Ramon, or else you might find yourself with Nick Fazekas in France wondering what happened to your NBA career. Flipping the ball to LeBron and getting a dozen assists a night is not a bad way to spend your career.